Forum:War on Terror OR War for Transnational Corporate Hegemony?
The other day I was at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL, where General Tommy Franks had led Allied Forces just a few years ago. Recently in a quite embarassing lapse of security, a vehicle went flying through the front gate, and literally nothing was done to stop the vehicle. By contrast, in only a month after this incident, as I drove up to the front gate, the MP's were extremely professional, courteous, and when I did not have the customary MacDill vehicle sticker on the front windowshield, they asked me politely to get a pass for the day. I would say that this represented a victory for securing our military installations properly, except for what happened afterwards. When I admitted that my automobile was a "loaner" (borrowed from a friend) and handed them the vehicle registration, my auto insurance information and my official Geneva Convention Military ID card, the tag office was little concerned about the fact that the vehicle was registered in a different name, but extremely concerned about not having a "matching auto insurance." I did not argue the point, but what was revealing was that a potential discrepancy in identification was not a problem, but somehow, insurance was! Truly, corporate business interests (i.e. the insurance industry) and not genuine concern for protecting American lives is what's running this country currently in our War on Terror. Why would an auto insurance policy that did not precisely match the vehicle be of MORE concern than a registration in a different name? Also, why would someone, anyone, with a valid military ID not be allowed on base, especially since I could have simply rented a car and gotten on base anyways? Truly, the insurance lobbyists not only affect Florida politics (e.g. the heavy corporate insurance financial support of Governor Elect Charlie Crist), but even the military is forced to capitulate to the whims of Big Business. Auto insurance over a valid military ID, and with little concern over a TRUE safety issue of a discrepancy in vehicle identification. In many ways, the new America is a Nation in transition. Just as Baghdad was brought under U.S. control, so also did Western Corporate Business Interests suddenly begin milking the golden cow of War-Time Business Deals. Senator Joe Lieberman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lieberman even mentioned in a trip to Iraq last year that he was amazed at the number of new cell phone towers that had been constructed after the Invasion of Iraq. In many ways, therefore, corporate business interests may in fact be a good thing, especially as the standard of living is raised in other parts of the world. The danger however to democratic forms of government is when such business interests dictate the rule of orderly government. Is the goal of a War on Terror to protect American lives from terrorists? If this is the primary goal, then yes, some wars are justified, such as the War in Afghanistan in order to topple the Taliban who were trying to kill us. But if the goal of a war is more nebulous, especially a war outside the parameters of a Just-War (as elaborated by St. Thomas Aquinas and others, for example wars for defense only), then the prevailing motives may be propping up forms of government less interested in democratic rule, and more interested in prosperity over freedom. In fact, as political activist Joseph Banister points out, even the IRS itself can come under the influence of big business interests at the expense of truly democratic rule of law http://www.ninehundred.net/banister/. So, the choice is ours really. Do we want a truly democratic government in the United States of America? Or do we want to continue the slippery slope towards a government that increasingly favors the interests of Big Business and other hidden power brokers that try to control the financial purse-strings throughout the world (e.g. many transnational corporations that utilize unscrupulous forms of out-sourced sweat-shop labor)? :Wow, that's quite an observation! I agree completely, and I'm curious if you have brought up your question about priorities to the local member of Congress? They would be the first person I would talk to in order to try and get those priorities fixed. :The biggest problem we face when trying to deal with the Corporate dominance in the United States and around the world is the question of ownership. Whoever owns the financial infrastructure controls the money supply. Whoever owns the manufacturing plants controls the production of products. Whoever "owns" the Congress gets to make the laws. And this is a global problem. :The solution, at least a partial one in my opinion, is to gain an understanding of this ownership issue, and work from the grassroots to take back ownership of our political, financial and physical infrastructure. If anyone thinks that winning an election solves the problem, they're missing part of the big picture. It doesn't matter who is sitting in the drivers' seat, only who actually owns the vehicle. Chadlupkes 16:35, 30 November 2006 (UTC) Chad, all of your points are precisely what I am most worried about in our current geo-political context. You quite correctly ascertain the intrinsic financial ownership dynamics at work. The insurance industry "owns" the state of Florida both due to our proclivity towards having hurricanes, but also due to our large elderly population resulting in home insurance rates skyrocketing and medicaid an increasing necessity for parts of the working population who cannot obtain more than an $8/hour job, even with a respectable bachelor's degree. The logical connection between insurance hegemony and "hurricane alley" of the southeast Gulf Coast is clear. The logical connection with a large elderly population resulting in decreased wages is due to restricted expenditures by retirees living on a fixed income which results in corporations able to pay ridiculously low wages in Florida (less consumer demand, with the exception of seasonal tourist dollars), but with the imposed necessity of auto insurance due to paltry expenditure for mass transit (i.e. Floridians are literally forced to own and maintain vehicles, unlike Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc). Finally, since corporations in general are pushing non-committal contract-based labor, even for white collar workers (e.g. the University of Phoenix, the nation's largest university system), all Americans are increasingly also forced to fund our own insurance for health care. This is why it should come as little surprise that Charlie Crist, a darling of insurance corporations was easily elected governor. Regarding the initial article, however, I am not going to alert anyone until I myself am in the position to do so. I actually did this little exercise in military intelligence as my own fact-finding mission. To add to the initial observation concerning insurance "topping" even a Geneva Convention military ID, the front office at the main gate of MacDill Air Force Base even had the major insurance companies ALL listed with 1-800-#'s stationed next to the telephone. Hmmmmm??? signed by Rob J King http://abidinglifephoenix.com/default.aspx :Ok, so here's a question. If you are not currently in a position to alert someone, what qualifications do you need to have to be in such a position? How much money do you think you need to donate to a political campaign before your member of Congress will listen to you? How many people do you need to be able to rally in support or opposition to a re-election campaign? And honestly, if you take either of those two questions seriously, then democracy has failed and we have failed. :Let me submit this to you. You don't need to wait for anyone else's permission to pick up a microphone and start expressing your views and (in the words of some crazy liberals from 230 years ago) "petition the Government for a redress of grievances". What would Jesus do? He would climb to the top of a hill and start talking to anyone who would listen. Climb to the top of the mountain, Rob. Permission was granted by God a very long time ago. Chadlupkes 18:58, 11 December 2006 (UTC) Chad, Again, THANK YOU for pointing out the intrinsic "structural power" dynamics at work. My own ThM and PhD training was in Christian Ethics. Both at Duke and at Notre Dame we read Protestant Ethicist Walter Rauschenbusch http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/courses/his338/students/kpotter/ and Catholic Reformer John Ryan http://www.stthomas.edu/CathStudies/cst/, two men who in their own day helped America successfully pass child labor laws, the 40 hour work week, minimum wage legislation, etc. Moreover, Rauschenbusch, along with Gandhi (a Christian in heart & spirit I believe), heavily influnced Martin Luther King, Jr. and the later Civil Rights Movement. My point in sharing this is that I truly believe that the next President of the United States will be elected not through pandering as many political leaders do, but instead, like you are stating, by simply being a voice for TRUTH and JUSTICE in whatever sphere one finds oneself. For Dr. King, this meant that as a 28 year old Black Baptist Preacher he was swept up in a local bus-boycott in Montgomery, Alabama that would catapult Dr. King into the National spot-light. For myself, the Civil Rights Movement I have found myself swept up in (the current "zeitgeist") is for Equal Rights in Divorce/Custody Issues. I even know a former MP and Spirit-Filled Chaplain with a similar divorce story as my own, along with Dr. Klein, my good friend and political ally. But in the words of Dr. King, one of my chief exemplars of LIVING the LIFE of Jesus in the public sphere, "Let Freedom Ring . . ." from Stone Mountain, GA (where my 37 year old cousin lost his marriage also) to the sandy shores of Long Island, New York (where Mark Klein is originally from) to the Desert SouthWest to the Heartland "Let Freedom Ring . . ." Thank you for encouraging me to take up the frog-horn and proclaim freedom to a new generation . . . ALL will happen according to the LORD's Providence . . . signed by Rob J King http://abidinglifephoenix.com/default.aspx